It’s no secret that Marvel Games has been on a winning streak when it comes to the superhero genre of video games. From their live service hit Marvel Rivals to the upcoming 4v4 tag team fighter game Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls to 2026’s most anticipated Marvel’s Wolverine by Insomniac, the goal is very much clear – to give gamers the power of choice. And Marvel Cosmic Invasion is one such game joining the ever growing list of Marvel Games’ titles.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a beat-’em-up game where you can choose and play as 15 characters with different play styles, combos, and team-up abilities. Keeping the story spoilers to a minimum, the fate of the Marvel universe is in danger thanks to Annihilus posing as a cosmic threat which catapults our heroes into a journey ranging from the streets of New York to various planets in outer space. Each level oozes with cameos, Easter eggs, and recognizable environments that will appeal to any comic book nerd.
Overall, the story isn’t all that compelling and complex – the levels feel like self-contained episodes of a Sunday cartoon. The game consists of 16 levels in total, each of which takes around 10-15 minutes to complete, so it’s great for those quick gaming sessions between hectic schedules. But for those completionists out there, every level has its own set of challenges and collectibles to achieve that adds an additional layer of replayability.
Gameplay is a mixed bag. There is a simple elegance to beat-’em-ups with a simpler move set, but Cosmic Invasion adds an extra layer by having players select two characters for each level. You can swap between characters at any point and can even temporarily tag your secondary character when you need an extra oomph during encounters. If you dig underneath the surface, characters have unique passives and special moves, and some fighting game mechanics, such as juggling, made their way into the game. The skill ceiling is low, but there is some room for flexibility and cool combos can be pulled off.
Characters’ skill sets come in three different groups: shohen (standard), projectile, and grappler. The 15 characters all fall into those three groups, but they don’t deviate much from that. Each grappler is too close, so there wasn’t much motivation to diverge after you find your ‘preferred’ character within each archetype.
Many gamers have PTSD from playing beat-’em-ups at the arcade, and the difficulty within Cosmic Invasion isn’t that bad, but there are some odd spikes. The game ‘recommends’ characters to play as in the campaign levels, and if you follow their recommendations, you will end up in later levels with characters ill-equipped to handle the levels. Certain mid-boss battles were hard in the game (sometimes, even more than the game’s final boss) and it comes out of nowhere compared to how the game was progressing at that point. However, after beating them, the next few levels feel like a breeze until another mid boss battle spikes the difficulty again.
One of the major problems with the game is a lack of escalation, both visually and mechanically. Cosmic Invasion just kind of…ends. There was no rising tension or epicness to the last few levels, and they consisted of recycled enemies. So much tender love and care went into the first half of the game that the back half was a disappointment, especially with a very flat final boss battle.
On the plus side, one of the major positives of Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the co-op. It’s a breeze to get a party started and play. You can also bring your own character progression into your friend’s game, which was an awesome feature. We played halfway across the world together without a hint of input lag or connection issues. Even with just two players, the game gets chaotic quick, but the game ran smoothly and handled everything that came its way.
Compared to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, which is also developed by Tribute Games, Marvel Cosmic Invasion feels lacking, at least for now. Even with its replayable levels and ridiculously fun co-op, I can’t help but feel that I didn’t get to spend enough time playing as the characters I love since the main story ends too quickly. However, despite its shortcomings, Cosmic Invasion is an ode to Marvel Comics’ 85 years of storytelling that will make your nerd heart happy if you’ve grown up reading these characters like us. You can’t deny that its gorgeous pixel art perfectly taps you into the nostalgia of spending countless hours at the arcade.
One can easily appreciate how Marvel Games over the years have teamed up with various studios, big and small to deliver games different from the last so there’s something for everyone. And I hope that never stops.
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